Steven Fletcher is happy to be back in the Sunderland first team.
Fletcher started the season out of the side but won over his manager to emerge as first-choice striker.
And the 27-year-old insists he never lost faith in his own ability.
"I wasn't really missing loads of chances - if I was starting to miss chances, then I would start questioning myself, but I wasn't," he said.
"Maybe I wasn't getting into the positions that I was before, I don't know, but I wasn't missing chances, so that didn't affect me.
"But I feel back to the way I did when I signed for Sunderland. I feel sharp again and able to move again, because there were points last season where I just felt I couldn't even get into second gear, so it was hard. But I feel good now."
